MTUC CALLS FOR A STOP TO THE HIRING OF FOREIGN WORKERS

By Sajad Hussein

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 21 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC) has called on the government to immediately cancel permits issued to foreign workers yet to come to Malaysia, as a means to help local retrenched workers find alternative jobs.

Its secretary-general, G. Rajasekaran said presently some 1,000 new foreign
workers were entering Malaysia daily.

If the government could stop this inflow it could create about 30,000 job
opportunities monthly, he told Bernama Friday.

He attributed this inflow to the 277 licensed foreign workers agencies who
were bringing in workers by the thousands thus aggravating the labour employment
situation in the country.

Rajasekaran said the world financial crisis which started in United States
was already "knocking on our doors".

According to the National Action Plan for Employment (NAPE), which was
unveiled by the government Thursday, about 190,000 to 270,000 new job
opportunities are to be created in the country per year in the next two years.

The Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) would be the backbone to create the
most number of new jobs.

However, since Malaysia is not fully insulated against foreign economic
turmoil there is a possibility that the number of jobs created willd not be
enough and hence the unemployment rate in Malaysia would increase to around 4
to 5 per cent.

The present unemployment rate is 3.6 per cent.